MILF central committee calls emerging wing ‘peace spoiler’

BARMM Interim Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim

KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato, Philippines — The central committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has denied that there was a crack within the former rebel organization even as it slammed as “peace spoilers” those behind the so-called MILF Salamat Wing, describing the move as a “cheap shot to secure seats in the Bangsamoro transition period.”

“The MILF Central Committee and all its committees and organs remain intact,” according to the group’s statement signed by MILF Chair Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim on July 24 but released only Tuesday night.

Ebrahim said the supposed political statement of the Salamat Wing was “nothing but an unabashed application letter for membership into the BTA (Bangsamoro Transition Authority), devoid of any revolutionary principles.”

“[It was] designed solely to secure personal political favor at the expense of the organization and its leadership. We cannot and will not tolerate such a brazen act,” said Ebrahim, the concurrent interim chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and one of the members of the BTA that made up the Bangsamoro parliament.

The MILF dominated the 80-member BTA, composed of 41 of its appointees and 39 from the government as mandated by Republic Act No. 11054, or the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), the enabling law that created the Bangsamoro region.

The creation of the autonomous region is a key component of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which the government and the MILF signed in 2014 after 17 years of peace negotiations. It was ratified during plebiscites in January and February 2019, paving the way for the creation of the BARMM, which replaced the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The BARMM is composed of the core areas of the defunct ARMM — the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi; and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan, with the inclusion of Cotabato City and 63 villages from six towns in North Cotabato now known as the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area.

‘Political statement’

The statement from the MILF’s central committee came after Abdulfatah Delna, a deputy commander of the National Guard Front of the MILF’s armed wing, Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, issued a “political statement” last week, saying that an “imaginary Salamat Wing” had been gaining ground within the MILF in the Bangsamoro region.

“We are bonafide and legitimate members and officials of the MILF and are trusted persons of the late (MILF) chairman Salamat Hashim. We maintain that we are not a breakaway group or that sort,” Delna said.

He addressed the statement to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whom his group supported in the May 9 elections, and asked the Chief Executive to appoint from their ranks new members of the BTA.

Abdullah Hashim, a BTA member and son of Salamat Hashim, said the family strongly condemned the use of the late Moro revolutionary’s name to divide the ranks of the MILF.

Hashim also noted that the creation of the wing could threaten the gains of the peace process.

Ebrahim said the MILF Central Committee had expelled Delna for his “overt political acts of supporting a local candidate in Maguindanao, undermining the Bangsamoro peace process, the MILF and the transitional government.” In establishing the “MILF Salamat Wing,” Delna was allegedly acting at the behest of some politicians whom the MILF central committee did not name.

“Let this be a fair warning to the peace spoilers. We know you, and our people know your hidden agenda. You will not succeed as you have not succeeded in the past in all your attempts to derail the peace process and take over the fruits of all the struggles of our people,” the statement read.

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